District finance director details tax, circuit-breaker and charter-sharing impacts on operations fund

Gary Community School Corporation finance staff presented a detailed report on property-tax mechanics, circuit-breaker impacts, and the effect of Senate Enrolled Act 1 on district revenues and projections.

Linda Zaborowski explained the basic calculation: the district requests a levy to fund its budget, the county assessor values property, and tax rates are set to meet revenue needs. She said the district’s certified operating levy request for 2025 was $31,880,000. Circuit-breaker caps reduced the collectible portion by about $22,700,000, yielding an estimated net collection of $9,550,000. Zaborowski told the board that the district’s operations fund received a $3,390,000 spring disbursement in June; a second disbursement is expected later in the year.

Zaborowski also described the effect of Senate Enrolled Act 1 (SEA 1), which requires sharing a portion of the incremental levy with charter schools. Using the district’s average daily membership data, the district will retain roughly 44.89% of the incremental levy while charter schools will receive 55.11% (the presentation cited roughly $2,400,000 redirected to charters under current calculations). The district noted that the present method of sharing applies to all Lake County charter schools and is scheduled to change in 2028, after which districts will share only with charter schools within their own boundaries.

The finance presentation included the district’s projected scenarios to 2030. Assumptions listed included a 3% annual increase in operating costs, a 10% rise in insurance costs, and a 17% utility increase tied to NIPSCO. The district also modeled a $3.1 million reduction in annual expenditures beginning in 2027 under an internal reduction plan; that reduction affects how long cash balances will sustain operations if a referendum does not pass in 2029.

Zaborowski said that in June she had to transfer funds from the operations fund to pay debt-service obligations and common-school loans, and that some usual June receipts were reduced by a charter-school property-tax adjustment (about $1.3 million on the June disbursement). She told the board that the referendum fund transfers $700,000 monthly into the operations fund to support building maintenance, security, athletics and transportation.

Why it matters: The presentation outlines structural revenue pressures — tax caps, required charter‑sharing and growing costs — that shape future budget choices and referral planning. The board discussed the projection scenarios and asked that the materials be made available to the public; staff said the packet and board docs will be posted and paper copies can be provided on request.

Public questions and board discussion touched on the assumptions behind the projections, whether the December disbursement would match June’s amount (staff said typically it is slightly less but that timing of tax draws can change collections), and how the district’s role as the local education agency affects services provided to charter and parochial schools.

Clarifying numeric details provided in the presentation are recorded in the district’s packet and the board’s financial documents.